2014 – Igniting Innovation

Announcing K12Online08 Keynotes!

With 16 days left to submit proposals for K12Online08, Sheryl, Darren, Dean and I are pleased to announce the keynote speakers in the four strands for our 2008 conference! We are thrilled with our lineup of keynote speakers this year and look forward to hearing and viewing their presentations when the 2008 K-12 Online Conference begins in October.

Stephen was the guiding “father” of a number of social networking projects including *ESW in the 1980s, Schools OnLine for the Department of Trade and Industry in 1995/6, Tesco Schoolnet 2000 from 1999, Think.com from 1999. Stephen founded Ultralab in the 1980s, moving there from the UK Government’s groundbreaking Microelectronics Education Programme. Over a score of years Ultralab grew to become Europe’s leading learning technology research centre with projects that pioneered multimedia CD ROMs and on-line communities before the advent of the world wide web. He left Ultralab to found his own flourishing policy and learning consultancy Heppell.net which now has a portfolio of international projects. Stephen is retained by a number of organisations to help with future policy and direction, including the BBC, is an Associate of KPMG, and is retained by UK government in Horizon Scanning work to advise of future directions for educational policy. Stephen is executive chairman of LP+ who are currently developing a Chinese language learning community for 20 million Chinese school students, in partnership with China’s Sun New Media corporation.

Getting Started: Alice BarrAlice Barr has lived, taught and traveled on five continents. Currently, she is the Instructional Technology Integrator for Yarmouth High School in Yarmouth, Maine. She facilitates a 1:1 laptop environment in grades 9 – 12. Alice also teachers in the summer at The University of Southern Maine and provides professional development sessions during the year. Alice has been a member of Seedlings@bitbybit since 2006.

Getting Started: Cheryl Oakes
Cheryl lives in Maine and has been part of the SEEDLINGS group since the beginning in 2006. Cheryl is a Collaborative Content Coach for Technology in Wells, Maine in the Wells Ogunquit Community School District. It is a school district of 1500 students, 250 staff members located on the coast of Maine, USA. Cheryl has been teaching with technology since 1988. Cheryl has worked in an elementary school with K- 4 most recently and is currently working with students, teachers and community, K- Adult. The newest venture is engaging all our staff and students with our district Moodle. Technology is always an adventure. Through open source learning, the process where we all contribute, the culture of collaboration will become the norm. Please join our conversations.

Getting Started: Bob Sprankle Bob Sprankle comes from Wells, ME, USA. He’s a Technology Integrator in a K-4 Elementary School, teaching over 500 students technology and skills for the 21st Century and has been integrating technology in a 3/4 Multi-age class for 10 years prior. Bob was involved with the SEED group in Maine as a Technology Learning Leader and helped train the first wave of teachers using laptops for the 7th and 8th grader MLTI project. He was awarded Maine’s Technology Teacher of the Year in 2006 from ACTEM. Bob’s students have received world-wide recognition for their “Room 208 Podcast”, and have appeared in numerous articles, including, The New York Times and Apple’s Education Site. Bob’s professional development blog and podcast, “Bit by Bit”, is geared to helping teachers incorporate technology into their classrooms and can be found at www.bobsprankle.com.

Prove It! Gardner CampbellGardner Campbell is Director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning at Baylor University, where he also serves as an Associate Professor in the Honors College. From 1994-2008, he was on the faculty at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, Virginia, where from 2003-2006 he served as Asst. VP for Teaching and Learning Technologies. A Miltonist by training, Gardner has published essays in the literature of the English Renaissance, film studies, and teaching and learning technologies. He teaches in these areas as well as in new media studies and writing. He’s worked in teaching and learning technologies for nearly fifteen years at Mary Washington, at the University of Richmond, and now at Baylor University. Gardner currently serves on the Advisory Board of the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative. He is also a Fellow of the Frye Leadership Institute, class of 2005. Gardner blogs at www.gardnercampbell.net/blog1.

Leading The Change: Chris Lehmann
Chris is the founding principal of the Science Leadership Academy, a progressive science and technology high school in Philadelphia, PA. Chris has returned to his native Philadelphia after nine years as an English Teacher, Technology Coordinator, Girls Basketball Coach and Ultimate Frisbee coach at the Beacon School in New York City, one of the leading urban public schools for technology integration.

In 2006, the National School Board Association named Chris one of “20 to Watch” among American administrators. In 2001, Chris was honored by MOUSE (www.mouse.org) as a Champion of Technology and Education for his work on building the portal at the Beacon School. Chris has spoken at educational conferences all over the world, including the Building Learning Communities conference, the National Educational Computing Conference, the Philadedelphia Area Educational Technology Conference, The Council of Educational Facilities Planners Regional Conference, the K12-Online Conference, the International Conference on Technology and Education and at LinuxWorld, and he has worked with many schools and districts in the U.S. and England as a consultant.

Chris received his B.A. in English Literature from the University of Pennsylvania and his M.A. in English Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. Chris writes for LeaderTalk (www.leadertalk.org), Grant Wiggins’ Faculty Room (www.thefacultyroom.org) and is the author of the education blog Practical Theory: www.practicaltheory.org.

Kicking It Up A Notch: Vicki DavisVicki Davis is an award winning teacher and IT director at Westwood Schools in Camilla, Georgia, where she co-created three award winning international projects, the Flat Classroom project, the Horizon project, and Digiteen. These projects have linked more than 500 students from 8 countries in collaborative projects harnessing the most powerful Web 2.0 tools available. Vicki blogs at the award winning Cool Cat Teacher blog and is a freelance writer, conference, and online presenter.

Kicking It Up A Notch: Julie LindsayJulie Lindsay, currently Head of Information Technology and E-Learning at Qatar Academy, Doha, State of Qatar, is an enthusiastic, global-minded education leader and innovator. Originally from Melbourne, Australia, over the past few years she has been teaching and leading the use of technology in schools in Zambia, Kuwait, Bangladesh and Qatar. Her wealth of diverse work experience is complemented by Masters of Arts degrees from La Trobe University in Melbourne and George Washington University in Washington, DC.

As co-founder of the Flat Classroom Project, Horizon Project and Digiteens, Julie is recognized worldwide for her innovative programs using a wide array of Web 2.0 tools to transform learning for the emerging digital, “world-is-flat” educational landscape. From ubiquitous mobile technology programs to online global collaboration, Julie brings front line experiences to share with teachers, school leaders and policy makers alike. She is a frequent presenter on the world stage, a tireless volunteer leader for professional associations, and an inspiration to colleagues and collaborators demonstrating just how different world-class education will be in this 21st Century.
More information can be found on Julieâ€™s digital portfolio julielindsay.wikispaces.com/ and her presentations wiki julielindsaylinks.pbwiki.com.
Julie blogs at â€˜E-Learning Journeysâ€™ on 123elearning.blogspot.com.

Please join us in welcoming these talented and distinguished educators as 2008 keynote speakers for the K-12 Online Conference! Remember you still have just over two weeks left to submit your own proposal for the 2008 K-12 Online Conference, which will begin with a pre-conference keynote during the week of October 13 and continue October 20-24 and October 27-31. Deadline for submissions is July 11, 2008.

Also note Darren created a K12Online2008 group in the NECC 2008 Ning this evening, which we’ll use as a “pre-conference watering hole” to share ideas and solicit input for the conference. Please join our discussions there as well!

4 comments

Wow. Your choice of keynotes is wonderful. I keep bumping into these people as I wander the web looking for a personal learning network and some sign posts for guiding my 21st century learning/teaching practice.